Bernhard Kleinhans. (1926 Sendenhorst - 2004 ibid.) Bathing girl Bronze, patinated. Probably from the 1970s. Mounted as a free-standing sculpture on a sandstone plinth. Expressive, contemporary, formally strongly reduced depiction of a girl as a semi-nude, her upper body bent forward with her head, wringing out her long hair or plaiting it in a plait. Kleinhans received his artistic training at the Werkkunstschule Münster and at the Academy in Munich, and also passed the master craftsman's examination as a wood sculptor and sculpture caster. In 1956, at the age of thirty, he was awarded the "Jung-Westfalen" art prize, which brought him greater fame. In the studio next to his house in Sendenhorst, he was able to cast and work on his bronzes himself. In addition to small sculptures, Kleinhans created numerous large works for public parks, squares and churches in Westphalia. Damaged over the left foot; bronze h. approx. 155 cm. Provenance: from the dissolution of an important private collection in North Rhine-Westphalia. Patinated bronze, mounted on a sandstone base. Flaw above the left foot.